By B.E. Echols

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1. Stripped of All Honor, Reputation, and Success

We are informed by the Scriptures that “the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail” Isaiah 9:151. The inevitable consequences of lying make it one of the most serious sins or offenses that one can indulge in or com­mit. Few people realize the seriousness and danger of lying. One never knows what the outcome of one lie may be until it has taken its course and cut down its victims. A lie is sometimes very long lived—it may die or spend itself out very slowly. A person who is stripped of all honor and reputation, and has had a successful career turned into failure and defeat by lying himself or by being lied upon, is in a pitiful condition. Such people are often left in such despair until they contemplate committing suicide or actually perform the act. Well, these are just some of the consequences and punishments that await those who tell lies. (See Jeremiah 23:30-32.)

 

2. Lying Causes One to Err

“Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof: because they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err” (Amos 2:4). Whoever lied that did not err? Every person that lies errs from the truth, but there are more ways to err than in this manner. To err also means to miss one’s aim, to make a mistake, to go astray morally, to sin, and, in every case, to wander from the truth. When one begins to consider the punishments that await the person who tells lies, he can readily see that such a life or practice never pays off with anything that is good or worthwhile. Well enough, the liar has his payday coming, even if it is sometimes quite delayed (Romans 2:2-9). The worst error of lying is that it cer­tainly diverts one’s steps from the path of life to that of eternal death and agony. (See Revelation 21:8, 27.)

 

3. Lying Causes God to Remove One’s Name from the Book of Life

God informed Moses, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” If there is any sin that would prompt God to take one’s name off the

Book of Life, it is the sin of lying; but it is not a ques­tion of the degree of sin that is committed—if it is sin, one’s name is removed. (See Exodus 32:33 with Psalm 69:27-28.) I suppose that my readers all know what the consequences are of having one’s name removed from the Book of Life. It simply means that one’s right to eter­nal life has been canceled and that he must spend eter­nity with the damned in the lake of fire. (See Revelation 20:15.) There is no chance of being saved for one who dies after God removes his name from the Book of Life, unless he gets God to replace it before he dies.

 

4. God’s hand is against All Liars

This alone is a terrible punishment for lying. If God be against us, who can be for us? There is no one who can deliver us out of His hand. The wife may succeed in deliv­ering her child from the hand of her husband who desires to punish him, but there is no one who could succeed in taking anyone out of the hand of God. Too, this means that everything one may try to do is opposed by the Lord. For proof that God’s hand is against those who lie, we quote: “Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spo­ken vanity [lies], and seen lies [you received them by way of a vision], therefore, behold [look and see], I am against you, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 13:8). Again we read in Jeremiah 23:31-32: “Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams . . . and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies.”

 

5. God’s Sword Is Turned on All Liars

Not only do we find that God’s hand s against ally those who tell lies, but His sword is unsheathed and turned on them. What an awful and horrible thing to have God turn His sword loose on someone! The Lord cuts to pieces with His sword until there is nothing left of a person. It just sim­ply means utter destruction for the physical man. (See Revelation 19:11-21; 20:7-9; Ezekiel 38:22.) For examples of this kind of punishment, we refer you to Sodom and Gomorrah, the great deluge sent on the antideluvians, the one angel destroying 70,000 with God’s sword because David cumbered Israel (I Chronicles 21:1-2, 14-17), and the angel that killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night before Jerusalem during Hezekiah’s reign (II Chronicles 32:21; II Kings 19:35). These incidents show us how destructive God’s sword is and how helpless human beings are when He becomes angry with them. God’s sword is drawn on all liars, and if He has not already struck down some liar, He is in the very act of doing so. Possibly some relative, friend, or Christian, standing in the gap pleading with God for that liar, is why God has not already smitten him. (Compare Exodus 32:7-14, 30-34 with Ezekiel 22:30.) Surely, “a sword is upon the liars . . . and they shall be dis­mayed” (Jeremiah 50:36).

 

6. Liars Become Silly and Weak-minded

Here we have another list of consequences that are certain to come to the liar, as a matter of punishment for his lying, that many never knew were some of God’s chastisements for this sin. Habitual liars become so sim­pleminded until they actually believe that their listeners believe their unreasonable lying. They tell things that could not possibly have happened and that even a child, whose mind is on the alert for adventurous things and miraculous events, will not accept as truth. One does not have to continue lying very long before he will become simpleminded and silly. If one desires to finish his days upon this earth in this category, and possibly die num­bered with the insane, let him keep up that lying or indulge in it continually, and this will be his lot.

To lose one’s wit means that he loses that ability or alertness of mind to suddenly and ingeniously assemble and associate ideas and words that are out of the ordi­nary. In its final stage, it means the loss of the reasoning power and faculty of the mind or senses. A person could go so far along this line until he could scarcely, if at all, comprehend his need of salvation or figure out in any case what would be the best thing for him to do. He would be stripped of all that power and ability to reason out matters and make a good decision. When the devil once has a person well on his way, floating down his lying stream toward the lake of fire, the person seldom has enough mind left to plan his escape or appropriate the means God has provided for his salvation.

Possibly someone is beginning to wonder where the writer has obtained all his information, and if it is scrip­tural. In Jeremiah 50:36, we read: ‘A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote”—become silky; simpleminded, lose their wit, and act and talk foolishly. Then statistics and observation will back us up in this definition. The person whom you find telling unreasonable lies will be found to be quite simpleminded and not very witty, if he has any wit at all. He will also likely be found to talk and act very foolishly and possibly be fickle-minded. People who want to be wise and have a reputation for wit and wisdom had better tell the truth and shun lying all the time. We are informed that to fear the Lord is the begin­ning of wisdom, and there is more truth in this statement than poetry. Fear God and you will not lie. Why should one not fear God and quit lying or refrain from lying if not already guilty, in the face of these punishments that await the liar?

May God cause all of us to quake and tremble at this message, and may the Holy Spirit bring us before the judgment seat of Christ where we can now judge our­selves and not be judged later (I Corinthians 11:31). We can now judge ourselves and plead guilty—send our sins of lying, and all other kind, on ahead of us to the judg­ment, and not have them trailing in behind us when we have to stand before that Great White Throne judgment bar of God on that final judgment day. Remember, “a false witness [one who swears lies] shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape” [Proverbs 19:51 My friend, the things we have been telling you about in this chapter concerning the punishment that awaits all liars are certain to come upon them. It is vouched for by God’s eternal Word, which shall stand for­ever, even when and after heaven and earth have passed into oblivion, passed totally out of our memory.

“0 God of heaven and earth, who shall deliver and save us from this lying age and generation? We are wretched and undone without you; yea, we are helpless creatures, and without you the devil will in some way or another lead us off into this damnable sin. Be our Deliverer and Savior, we pray. Yea, fill us with that Spirit of truth, the Holy Ghost (John 14:17, 26; 16:13), and so inoculate us until there will be nothing but the truth in us. Then we know that we will not tell any lies. Amen.”

 

7. God Stops All Liars from Witnessing for Him

A liar cannot be a witness for the Lord. All liars are the devil’s witnesses, and he must be proud of them. Who could be proud of a liar but the devil? If anyone should be proud of a liar, he would be a fool. David said, “The mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped” [Psalm 63:11]. It is a very easy matter for God to stop the mouths of His people from witnessing for Him when they begin lying. The control is in His hand, and all He has to do is switch off the inspiration or anointing, as we fre­quently speak of it. The liar may go on talking or preach­ing, but he is no more God’s witness. No one is a real wit­ness of the Lord who is not inspired or anointed of the Holy Spirit to speak. Our words and sermons must be inspired or given of the Lord for our witnessing to be of Him. No more anointed singing, testifying, preaching, teaching, shouting, or worship for the liar. If the anoint­ing is gone and one realizes the Lord has departed from him, as he did from King Saul, he will do well to look around and see if a lying spirit has not switched the cur­rent off. One may lie and act a hypocrite, but that does not at all class him among God’s true witnesses. He is a wolf among the sheep, a well without water, a cloud with­out rain, and a terrible offender in God’s sight.

 

8. Liars Cannot Abide in God’s House, Nor in His Sight

“He that worketh deceit [and one has to lie in almost every case to deceive anyone] shall not dwell within my house [church]: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight” (Psalm 101:7). God’s house is not one that can be built with mortal hands anymore.  It is a spiritual building. (See Ephesians 2:19-21.) Therefore, God can put one out of His building though he still remains in some church or organization. There is a day coming when God is going to cast all liars out of His sight, just as He cast the children of Israel and Judah out of His sight in days of yore (Jeremiah 7:15; 15:1). This might not appear to be a very bad or sore punishment to some now, but wait until they experience it! To be cast out of God’s sight does not mean necessarily that one is where God cannot see him, but that he is where he cannot see God or even get glimpse of Him, His presence, or His power in any form or manner.

We are sometimes relieved of our distress over the loss of loved ones, who have been placed out of our sight beneath the sod of some cemetery, by viewing one their pictures. There will not likely be any comforting pic­tures of the crucified Christ hanging on the walls of hell for one to behold. Sinners will be deprived of every vision and likeness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Especially will this be true following the Great White Throne judgment. You, like Paul and other Christians, may have beheld the Lord and His glory in some vision of the night, but if you turn away from Him by lying, you will soon be where you will never see that wonderful and sympathetic face again. Remember, the Lord has said, “He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight” [Psalm 101:7], and you may as well expect this if you lie and die guilty of this sin.

 

9. Finally, Hell!

We have listed in this chapter a great many punish­ments, though not nearly all of them that await all liars. There are none of the punishments we have dealt with prior to this paragraph that will or can equal hell, that burning lake of fire that is filled with brimstone and pro­duces an unending experience of death, known as the “second death.” When it comes to explaining the tortures of that place with pen or tongue, it is beyond the English vocabulary to supply us with words to describe it—it is just hell, and more of hell, and hell that has no end to it. When one wants to speak of the terribleness of some­thing that he cannot find words to express how awful it is, he just simply says, “It was hell.” In chapter two we dealt with many forms of lying, and there are surely other ways a person can lie. Surely hell, that indescribable place of torment, must have enlarged her mouth to receive all these multitudes and millions of liars who have been pouring into it for ages past and up to the present time. God told Isaiah, or informed us through this prophet, that He had enlarged hell so much that it was beyond measure (Isaiah 5:14). So hell is going to be large enough to accommodate all liars, we can be assured of that, and that all liars are going there. (See Revelation 21:8; Proverbs 19:5.)

Surely the readers of this book should be ready by this time to consider God’s remedy and inoculation for the sin of lying, after having read of the various punish­ments and consequences that await the liar. So we now pass with you to the final chapter of this book for the much-needed and prized information. Let me plead with you to give the following chapter your most prayerful consideration for your own eternal welfare.

 

God’s Remedy and Inoculation for Lying the Word of God

 

The Word of God is certainly to be considered and resorted to if one desires and hopes to free himself from ail lying and be truthful in every action and statement. Jesus informed His disciples that they had been cleansed through the Word that He had spoken to them (John 15:3). Then the psalmist said, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” [Psalm 119:111. So there is no question but that there is a cleans­ing element and an inoculation against lying and all other sins in the Word of God.

 

A good knowledge of the Scriptures concerning the various punishments and consequences of lying should make any God-fearing person seek the Lord for a greater filling of the Spirit of truth. Too, when one reads and finds that God has barricaded the New Jerusalem and heaven against all liars (Revelation 21:27), and that no one but he who speaks the truth in his heart is going to dwell in God’s holy hill (high heaven) and abide in His house (church (Psalm 15:1-2), he is certainly made to see that one needs to be kept by the power of God at all times and places.

 

Jesus made use of the Word of God to defeat Satan dur­ing one of the archenemy’s worst attacks upon Him. Wheat power of resistance He wielded when He said, “It is writ­ten”! If the Word of God proved so helpful to our Lord during His sojourn and days of testing here on this earth, it cer­tainly should be read and adhered to, especially by all of God’s children. It will certainly help cleanse one from untruthfulness and play a great part, Ain inoculating him against all lying. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful” (“full of life and power”—Weymouth) (Hebrews 4:12 Read Psalm 1:1-6 and Joshua 1:1-9 and be further enlighten concerning the power and consequences of the writ­ten Word, which is assured to those who will constantly meditate upon it, believe it (Hebrews 11:6), and obey it.

 

The Spirit of Truth

 

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).

 

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” (Acts 1:8), which includes power tell the truth. (See I John 2:27.)

 

There are two predominating and controlling spirits in the world, besides our own human spirit, that we have to do with or deal with. One of these spirits predominates to establish truth and righteousness in one’s life and con­duct, but the other tends to lead man in the other direc­tion, and the evil spirit, known as Satan and the devil, is an outright lying spirit. As we have already explained in chapter five, he never tells the truth. If he gets control and possesses one in any degree, he certainly injects his lying spirit into him. One must stay free from all of Satan’s influence and control or he will lie in spite of him­self. The human spirit is easily influenced by either of these predominating spirits of good and evil. Therefore, one should see to it that his own spirit is influenced and controlled only by the Spirit of truth, if he desires to always be truthful.

 

There is no need of man that demands one to be a recipient of the Holy Ghost any more than the one we are now dealing with. Some people, and many of them pro­fessed Christians, do not see the need of their seeking God for the baptism of the Holy Ghost and being posses­sors of this experience today. Without it, it is a matter of impossibility for one always to be as truthful as he should be. The human spirit is not capable of guarding itself to this extent, for it was not created in that capacity. God has created us as dependent beings and not at all inde­pendent. Jesus frankly warned His disciples that without Him they could do nothing (John 15:5). The Holy Ghost can be received today, with the evidence of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance, the same For the promise is unto you [Peter’s audience on the Day of Pentecost], and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39). (See also Acts 2:1-4, 37-39; 19:1-6.) Millions of people, scattered all over the world and in every nation, have this experience and keeping power in their lives today, as a witness that it is for “all that are afar off,” as Peter said.

 

We shall deal further with this point at the close of this chapter, especially as pertaining to those who have received their baptism in the Holy Ghost.

 

Faith That Appropriates

 

One cannot appropriate the promises of God unless he believes that God meant them for him as an individual. “Faith without works is dead,” said James, the brother of our Lord [James 2:20]. Then Hebrews 11:6 informs us, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is [that there is a God and that He now lives or exists], and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Jesus also informed us that “all things are possible to him that believeth” [Mark 9:23]. The faith that appropriates is the faith that goes into action—does something about the prob­lem confronted or involved. Our next paragraph will show you and explain what faith in action is, at least in part.

 

Praying without Ceasing

 

Just as one cannot obtain things from God without faith, he does not receive them without asking God for them (Matthew 7:7-8), and that day by day. “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). We cannot receive a life­time supply of spiritual food, power, grace, and so on by praying one prayer, any more than one can eat enough, naturally speaking, to sustain himself indefinitely. This is where “praying without ceasing” comes in. Our spiritual needs must be a matter of daily prayer. “Though our out­ward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” [II Corinthians 4:16]. Right here is the secret of why many Christians grow weak spiritually and lose out with God—fail to stay victorious in their daily living for God. They do not “continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving,” as Paul exhorted the Colossians to do [Colossians 4:2]. The model prayer given by our Lord instructs us to pray: “Give us this day [not some future day or year] our daily bread” [Matthew 6:11].

 

God has spiritual power and soul vitamins like the manna He served to the children of Israel in the wilder­ness for forty years. If they gathered a week’s or month’s supply and kept it for over one day, excepting the Sabbath day, it bred worms and stank. Some lazy Israelites would have preferred gathering enough in one day to have lasted them for many days, but God would not have it that way. The same is true with many well-meaning Christians of today. They would like to obtain enough soul food and power during one prayer to last them indefinitely. God could not afford to arrange things thus, for there would be too much idleness among His people, and an idle soul is soon meddling and into vari­ous kinds of mischief.

 

To “pray without ceasing” does not necessarily mean that one must pray for twenty-four hours a day, but that he must pray daily and continually renew or repeat his petitions to the Lord. Prayer must be a daily routine for every Christian if he expects to obtain the needed grace from the Lord for each day. One who conducts family worship and prayer once a day, or who sees that he gets alone with God in the secret place of prayer every day, prays without ceasing, and you can make this application to all kinds of prayer.

 

A Purposed Heart

 

God assures one that he can obtain the things that he desires if he will seek for them with all his heart. Some people are not daily concerned about spiritual matters and their soul’s need. If we want to obtain God’s favor and help, we must first let Him see that we have a will and pur­pose of heart to do and accomplish certain things. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s wine and meats, and God saw to it that Daniel did not have to drink the wine or eat the king’s meat.

 

A purposed heart goes a long way in influencing God to grant our petitions. Do not ever forget this. God is not out to waste His time and power upon people who have no purpose of heart. Such a person is like a ship without a rudder or helm—there is no telling which way he may drift or turn. The man who never purposes in his heart to seek God and get right with His Maker will die lost—God will never save such a person. If He did, He would be saving him against his own will. We are free moral agents with the power of choice granted to us by the Lord, and God would contradict His creative plans and actions if He did things for us against our will. This should help you to understand more thoroughly a purposed  heat t, concerning telling
the truth, is so essential if one wants God to give him grace to always be one hundred percent truthful.

 

A few quotations from the pen of David will probably add some more emphasis to this thought concerning the need of a purposed heart in the matter of being truthful, or obtaining grace from God to help one be truthful. “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress [tell lies, tat­tle, backbite, judge, criticizer [Psalm 17:3]. “I said [David speaking], I will take heed to my ways that I sin not [lie not] with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me” [Psalm 39:1]. David went to the limit of his ability in purposing not to lie or say things he should not speak. He later learned to petition God’s help and assistance in the matter, and I am sure God undertook for him. We find him uttering the following words after he had failed to carry out the purposes of his heart by his own strength and wit: “Set a watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” [Psalm 141:3]. Do not overlook the need of petitioning God for assistance along this line, though you desire and purpose to be truthful.

 

Confess and Correct All Errors and False Statements

 

This is something that we almost have to force the natural man to do, especially at times when the cir­cumstances are not so inviting. Solomon gave us this admonition concerning our faults and sins: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have [obtain] mercy [forgive­ness]” [Proverbs 28:13]. Do not say you never lied or that you have always been truthful, and thereby endeav­or to cover up your untruthfulness and contradict God’s Word. “If we say that we have not sinned [lied at some time or other—remembering that any untruth is a lie], we make him a liar [contradict the Bible]” (I John 1:10). John the beloved also had this to say about confessing our sins and lying: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins [lying and untruthfulness included], and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness lying” [I John 1:9]. . . .

 

Save yourselves in this manner from this untoward generation, of which there are not many people who tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, all the time. . . . We have to confess all sins, even those that we did not intend to commit [by premeditation]. Sin of this nature has to be cared for the same as the mud, stain, and grease that we get on our natural garments by accident or due to carelessness. Such stains and soiled garments must be cleaned the same as those soiled from wear and perspiration. So is it with our souls. If sin has marred it, there must be an application of the blood before it can be removed.

 

God demands that we call His attention to these spe­cial needs the same as the cleaner does. If we just put a suit or dress in for a general dry cleaning that has some stain and unwashable spots on it without calling the cleaner’s attention to it, we cannot blame him if the dress or suit is returned with those spots still showing. God wants us to put our finger right on the spots (confess exactly and definitely) that we desire to be removed from our soul. Too many Christians go in for a dry cleaning spiritually, when they need an overall washing with “fullers’ soap” (Malachi 3:2), applied with plenty of water in the name of Jesus Christ. (See Colossians 3:17; Acts 2:38; 4:12; 22:16; 1 John 5:8.) They can also partake of the Lord’s Supper worthily if they have already been bap­tized in water. (See Hebrews 6:1-3; I Corinthians 10:16; Matthew 26:27-28.)

 

There are too many “dry cleaning establishments” (churches, if you please) in the land today recommend­ing a cleansing for the soul other than repentance. (See Luke 13:5; Acts 2:37-38; 3:19; 17:30; II Peter 3:9.) Repentance includes the confessing of one’s sins to God and whoever he might have personally wronged or affect­ed thereby. These churches also exclude the water and blood bath, which can only be obtained by being immersed or baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ. The water and the blood are included in the new birth the same as the baptism of the Holy Ghost. (Compare John 3:3-7 with I John 5:8.)

 

Water baptism in the titles “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost” does not remit or wash away one’s sin. It is like washing clothes in water without putting any soap, lye, bleach or bluing in it. One may rub, boil, and rinse all he pleases, but the dirt and stain will not all come out. How careless and indifferent some people are when it comes to seeking cleansing for the soul. The Scriptures plainly and definitely inform us, “Without shedding of blood [there] is no remission” of sin [Hebrews 9:22], and, “Repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (the name of Jesus Christ, Luke 24:47). (See also Acts 2:37-38; 10:43; John 20:31.) Remember, Jesus has informed us that he who tries to get in some way other than what He has planned will not make it any more than a thief would. (Compare John 10:1 and 14:6.) Therefore, confess your sins, if you desire forgiveness and cleansing from them, and be buried in the watery grave by baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you have not thus been baptized.

 

Live a Spirit-filled Life

 

We now come to the final paragraphs of this chapter and the whole book. We have been studying the remedy that will rid one of sin and lying in the foregoing para­graphs of this chapter, and now we come to the perma­nent inoculation against sin and lying. “Greater is he [the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit] that is in you, than he [the devil or one of his evil spirits] that is in the world” (I John 4:4). There is nothing so important to our being truthful as being filled and staying filled with the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of truth. (See I John 2:27; John 16:13-14.) The watch that David could only have before his mouth (Psalm 141:3), we can now have in our souls (John 14:16-20, 26; 15:26), which is nothing less than the Holy Ghost that is evidenced by the speaking with tongues as He enters into our very soul and body. (See Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-46; 19:1-6; Isaiah 28:11-12; Mark 16:17.)

 

This Holy Ghost, which is the power and Spirit of God within us, can and will keep us from all evil and sin (Acts 1:8; Jude 20; I Peter 1:1-10) and “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). If one will not thus inoculate himself against lying, then he will “fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” by Satan and his lying spirit, as Isaiah prophesied (Isaiah 28:11-13), and in the end he will land in hell (Revelation 21:8). General Booth’s prediction concern­ing twentieth-century Christianity is coming true. He said in part: “I consider that the chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost,” and there is plenty of this kind today.

 

It is one thing to be filled or get filled with the Spirit and it is another thing to keep filled. Many are filled with the Holy Ghost and do not keep filled with it. One must keep inoculated with the Spirit by staying filled with the Spirit, as Paul exhorted in Ephesians 5:18. It requires as much or more to keep filled with the Holy Ghost as it does to obtain the Spirit. All the expenses of operating an automobile are not dispensed with when one purchases the car. In fact the operating expenses begin after he buys and begins to use or operate the car. It costs a per­son some of his time and a great deal of devotion to God and His cause to stay filled with the Spirit. One does not sleep out his salvation—it is worked out with much fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). There has to be a great deal of praying in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20), anointed and inspired praying, for one to stay Spirit filled and inocu­lated against lying and all forms of sin. The Holy Ghost fills one’s soul and keeps the devil and all lying and evil spirits out of him, just as a dental filling keeps the germs out of one’s tooth and preserves it.

 

Some people who attain a Spirit-filled life, fool around and use up their supply without seeking for the refilling (Acts 4:24-31) often enough, and become more sinful and untruthful than they have ever been (II Peter 2:20). But this is not a fault of the Holy Ghost, it is a fault of their own. If there is no gasoline in the tank of a car, there is no power there to make it go. The same is true with a Christian without the Holy Ghost.

 

May we bow our heads and join in prayer with Jude as we close this message: “Now unto him [Jesus] that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory [for all the good accomplished by this message or little book] and majesty dominion and power [in your life and mine], both now and ever.” Amen!

 

The above article, “Punishments That Await All Liars” was written by B. E. Echols. The article was excerpted from chapter 6 and 7 in Echols’ book The Sin of Lying.

 

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.

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